Campaign for Ha Long Bay’s new world wonder kicks off12-24-2007, 09:49 am

The tourism-boom province of Quang Ninh on December 23 hosted a massive campaign to call on the world to vote for Ha Long Bay as a world natural wonder.

Ha Long Bay - a candidate to be a new world wonder

The event drew the attention of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, members of Ha Noi-based foreign diplomatic corps, local leaders and executives from leading companies as a signal of big interest from all walks of life in this issue.

Opening the ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Van Tho said campaigns on the Ha Long bay will help the world natural heritage site widely known among the international community, thus boosting the national images, especially the country’s culture and traditions.

He also called on each and every Vietnamese, either at home or abroad, to cast votes on the Ha Long Bay as a world natural wonder.

Deputy Permanent Chairman of the Quang Ninh People’s Committee Nguyen Hong Quan said the province has set up a special board on the Ha Long Bay campaign.

The organisation has sent either people or letters to a large number of agencies and domestic and foreign organizations to call for concerted efforts nationwide to join with people in Quang Ninh province in the campaign to vote for the site’s title.

The ceremony was marked with the auction of a 6-litre Hennesy Mathusalem bottle in a special, impressive design. The final hammer beat at a 25,000 Euro offer made by Tan Tao group CEO Dang Thanh Tam has added the amount to the campaigning board’s budget.

The Ha Long Bay is one of the 13 sites selected by the New Open World, Switzerland , as an example candidate for a four-year campaign from 2007 to vote for world natural wonders through the internet. (VNA)